


rainbow connection

by lhknox



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/F, First Meetings, Love, Meet-Cute, Mini Fic, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-09-30 10:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20445632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lhknox/pseuds/lhknox
Summary: lena doesn't expect to bump into anybody on her penthouse balcony.and then she meets supergirl.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based on this ask:  
kind of an alternate first meeting?: Lena is newly arrived in National City, the L-Corp inauguration hasn't happened yet, she's on a rooftop nursing a drink when she sees Supergirl hovering nearby lost in thought. She calls out to her and it doesn't seem like Supergirl recognises her, and they fall into a conversation that's both easy and serious and lasts well into the night. Just two strangers connecting unexpectedly

lena luthor doesn’t get nervous; she learned how to curb her anxieties long ago. she’s too sure of every move she makes to ever second guess them. but for some reason that doesn’t stop the slight tremor in her hand, the ice clinking against the side of the glass tumbler she holds. she supposes that if there’s something she’s allowed to be nervous about, it’s tomorrow. tomorrow’s her first official day at newly-christened l-corp. tomorrow’s the first time in months that she’ll probably be forced to talk about her brother, about why she’s  _ different _ . sometimes lena wonders if the world has forgotten that she’s only twenty-four, that other young women her age are having the time of their lives, like one is supposed to do in one’s twenties.

then again, lena luthor has never been like other young women her age, and that was something lillian never let her forget. she’s supposed to be smarter, better, superior. instead, she just feels like some sort of imposter, given way too much credit and responsibility.

but she can’t back out now, no matter the fear that runs through her, no matter the anxiety that swirls in the pit of her stomach. she sips her whiskey, hoping it’ll help settle the nerves. she takes another, and she leans against the balcony railing, peering out at the sleeping city below.

and maybe it’s because she’s got too much to worry about, but the sight of a stranger floating mid-air in front of her barely even registers. the stranger doesn’t even see lena; she floats horizontally, her arms folded behind her head, peering up at the starry night sky. she whistles something, too, something lena can’t quite place. and then it clicks, and lena smiles.

‘hey, kermit,’ she calls out, ‘you can’t see rainbows at night.’

she startles, but only slightly. she rolls over, still horizontal, but this time on her stomach. she props her head on her fist, like she’s lolling on a bed instead of floating in the middle of the air.

‘i didn’t see you there,’ she says. ‘you spend a lot of time spying on pretty girls?’

lena doesn’t mean to laugh as loudly as she does. part of her wonders if she’s hallucinating this beautiful, greek goddess of a stranger. can stress make you conjure hot women with your mind? is that a thing?

‘you know, i always mean to schedule more time for looking at beautiful women.’

she tries not to look directly at the stranger’s bright smile, a smile much too genuine for lena’s cynical sensibilities. 

‘what’s your name?’ the stranger asks her, and lena’s impulses tell her to lie, to keep talking to this wonderful creature for as long as she can.

‘kieran,’ lena replies, not quite lying, but also not giving the stranger the truth she’s looking for. ‘and you are?’

the stranger laughs. ‘it’s been a long time since anybody asked me that while i’m wearing this.’ she gestures to the big S on her chest.

of course. supergirl. another person destined to hate lena eventually. but for now, she’s not lena, she’s not a luthor. she’s just… her.

‘i assume your parents didn’t christen you supergirl,’ lena says, feeling a lot braver than she did just five minutes ago. ‘so again: you are?’

supergirl hesitates. ‘zor-el. my name is zor-el.’

lena knows, like her, supergirl is only being as truthful as she can, and she guesses that’s all she can ask for.

‘zor-el,’ lena repeats. she likes the way the foreign sounds feel on her tongue, like she holds a secret that few others know. ‘it’s very nice to meet you.’

‘likewise,’ zor-el replies. ‘what brings you onto your balcony so late at night?’

‘probably the same thing that has you stargazing: had a long day, and i’ve got a whole lot more of them to come.’

‘that’s why i like to stare at the stars -- my problems feel a lot more benign when i remember that there’s an entire universe out there looking down at me. do you know how many problems that universe holds? more than we could ever imagine.’

‘what’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing?’ lena quotes, ‘and what do we think we might see?’

zor-el smiles again. ‘i’m always looking for the lovers and dreamers, they’ll lead me straight to the rainbow connection.’

‘well i think you’re barking up the wrong tree then.’

‘you’re not a dreamer? nor a lover?’

lena shakes her head. ‘who has time for that stuff?’ she says, half-joking.

‘i don’t think it’s something you have to schedule in; it sort of just happens. you dream. you love. you don’t need a degree to do it.’

‘what do you love, zor-el?’

zor-el rolls over once more, staring up at the stars. ‘i love warm summer nights. and my sister. and staring at stars and feeling impossibly small. and bumping into strangers who feel like old friends.’

‘and what do you dream of?’

‘i dream of somebody i can share my love with. of raising a family and retiring my cape and feeling like i’ve finally done enough. and what about you?’

‘i dream…’ lena thinks. ‘i dream of being good enough.’

‘and what do you love?’

lena smiles. ‘I love bumping into strangers who feel like old friends,’ she quotes back to her.

zor-el grins, and then she sighs, pressing a finger to her ear. ‘copy that. be right there.’

‘gotta go save the world?’

‘unfortunately,’ she replies. ‘can i see you again, kieran? is that a strange thing to ask?’

lena shakes her head. ‘Not strange at all. Same time tomorrow night? i anticipate being awake again.’

‘it’s a date,’ she replies, before disappearing into the night.

lena knows that by tomorrow, zor-el will probably have figured out who she is, that the mask of anonymity she had been gifted tonight is all too temporary. but for now, she can’t bring herself to worry about that; maybe zor-el will be different. maybe lena has found her first friend in national city. the worries that have plagued her start to disappear, and instead, she stares at the stars. and for the first time in a long time, she allows herself to dream.


	2. some day we'll find it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lena waits for her under a full moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't get this au out of my head rip me.

lena waits under a full moon.

the night sky is filled with specks of stars and the city below is slowly but surely drifting off to sleep, and lena leans against the balcony railing. her tumbler is cold in her hand and her eyes are gently closed and she waits, like she’s done for the past two weeks, for supergirl to return.

she doesn’t blame her for not coming back like she’d promised; lena’s seen the news and she’s seen the crime spike in recent weeks, and she assumes that supergirl has been kept busy keeping the city safe. she’s also seen the statistics plastered on television screens right beside her face, as local news pundits try and connect her arrival to the rise in hatred the city has seen.

she knows it’s not true, that it’s purely coincidence, but part of her wonders if it really is her image that inspires hate. and part of her wonders if that’s the true reason zorel has stayed away.

the october air is unseasonably warm and she grows restless as the night drags on and the whiskey in her glass dwindles down and yet.

and yet.

still she waits.

zorel surfaces a few nights later. the air is beginning to cool and halloween decorations haunt the city and lena’s eyes are closed as she faces the wind, unable to stop the smile that creeps onto her face when she hears something touch down next to her.

‘and here i thought you were a figment of my imagination.’

zorel laughs, a sound that makes lena’s heart soar into a new plane of undiscovered yearning.

‘i think my life would be a lot easier if i were just your imaginary friend, and nothing else.’

‘long day?’

‘they’re starting to feel longer and longer.’

silence rests between them for just a moment. lena offers her glass of nightly whiskey to zorel, who takes it, sipping it slowly.

‘i didn’t think you’d come back,’ lena says softly. ‘not once you found out who i am.’

‘i almost didn’t,’ zorel admits. ‘a lot of people told me not to.’

lena feels her heart sink.

‘but then again, i’m used to being misunderstood by people who refuse to even try and understand. i don’t think i could do that to someone else.’

it’s a loaded statement, one lena is sure is directed at lex and lillian. she wonders what the world would have to look like to allow for her to befriend zorel, a super and a luthor being something other than enemies. 

she thinks it would have to look a whole lot simpler. 

‘i would like the record to show that i never lied to you,’ lena says. ‘my middle name is kieran.’

zorel smiles. ‘i didn’t lie, either. zor-el was my father’s name. on krypton, women take on their father’s name as their last name.’

‘do your parents live here, too?’ lena asks, turning to face zorel. she’s not prepared for the sad smile she gives her. and instead of an answer, zorel asks her a question.

‘do you ever miss somebody so violently, all you can do is try and hold back your tears until you get to the nearest bathroom or something?’

‘your parents still live on krypton?’

zorel hesitates. ‘today i got a whiff of this perfume, and i could’ve sworn it was my mother’s. i was in the middle of my workplace, and i just… i broke down. i felt like i was eight years old and homesick at my first sleepover. all i wanted was to be able to climb into my parents’ bed and know that they’re beside me.’

oh.

lena understands now. because sometimes she’ll get the vaguest memories of a faceless woman with long brown hair who gives the best hugs and feels more like home than any luthor mansion ever has.

‘today,’ lena smiles, ‘i walked passed a woman in the street. she had the most gorgeous blonde hair and her glasses kept sliding down her nose. and somehow, when she walked out of view, i missed her. i missed a person i’ve never even met, and i’ve never felt quite that foolish. it was horrible.’

‘why do we yearn the things we can never have?’ zorel asks, and lena shrugs.

‘they say as a species we’re fatally hopeful. maybe that’s why.’

zorel laughs, and not for the first time that night, lena feels things she’s seldom felt before, things that make her think maybe there’s more to life than whiskey and profit margins.

‘you know i’m an alien, right?’

‘well then you know better than anybody that humanity is so much more than your genus.’

zorel pauses. she pauses and lena wonders if she’s said something offensive to aliens. she has an apology on the tip of her tongue when--

‘you’re a good person, you know that?’

‘i guess i try and remind myself sometimes.’

‘people in this town… they have no clue just how much goodness you hold. and i wanna make sure they never take that away from you.’

‘wow,’ lena says, deadpanned. ‘i didn’t realise supergirl was strong enough to sway decades of public opinion on the luthor name.’

zorel laughs again. ‘sometimes i can be more effective when i’m whoever i am outside of this suit.’

‘when you’re zorel?’

she smiles affectionately. ‘i’m only ever zorel with you.’

lena returns the smile. and then, her own body betraying her, she fails to stifle a yawn as her body begs for sleep.

‘i should let you get home,’ zorel says.

‘it’s already so late, i might as well sleep on the couch in there.’

but of course, that’s the wrong thing to say.

before she knows it, lena is nestled firmly in zorel’s embrace, being flown high above the city and straight to her apartment.

and when they land, touching down gently against the balcony attached to her bedroom, the moon is above them, but lena feels as though she’s still in the clouds, weightless and fluid and free.

zorel bends down, and presses a soft kiss against her cheek.

‘sweet dreams, lena.’

it’s the first time lena’s heard her say her name, and it sounds so perfect in zorel’s voice, like she was born to say it, to be in lena’s life.

‘goodnight, zorel,’ she replies, and not for the first time that night, zorel hesitates for just a moment.

‘call me kara,’ she smiles, before flying off into the night.

and lena whispers into the wind,

‘goodnight, kara zor-el.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im on tumblr at murdershegoat and twitter at lhknox2 come chat!!!

**Author's Note:**

> as always im on tumblr at murdershegoat and twitter at lhknox2


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